Piano for Children ... 1st lesson

Musically gifted I am not. I may be able to just about hold a note and I did teach myself how to read music and can just about get by but it's not where my strengths lie. I was not blessed when I was younger to have music lessons or parents who could pass on their knowledge of music or an instrument to me. I did however have a keyboard, probably from the age of 11 and I still have one now. My boys love it when I do dust off this ancient relic and allow them to play on it.

I have spent time contemplating whether to try and offer some kind of musical training for my boys. However I have not been able to decide whether this is because I feel like I missed out when I was younger and it's my desire to play an instrument or whether it would be good for the boys. I have always tried to make decisions that would be for my children's benefit rather than making decisions based on what I would like.

Mr Faithful had piano and saxophone lessons when he was younger but again he didn't continue in his studies to a level where he might have felt confident teaching the boys.

But looking back both me and Mr Faithful had a little go and made use of the opportunities afforded us when we were growing up so I decided today to teach some basic music skills to the boys, starting with Mr Social. I had every intention of teaching the same things to Mr Cheeky, but he is a wilful child and when he sets his mind against something it is hard to stir him to do otherwise and today he did not want to be instructed. So I showed Mr Social how you have high notes and low notes on a piano and which hand you normally play them with. Then I showed him that the notes have names and following some advice that I had come across on the internet we began trying to show Mr Social a way to remember the notes. C for cat, D for dog, E for elephant, F for frog, G for giraffe, A for ant and B for bear. We had a good deal of fun then playing the different notes in different combinations and finding high Cs and low Cs and the same for the other notes. It was very relaxed and no doubt we will have to revisit this lesson numerous times but Mr Social enjoyed it and went on to make up his own tunes at which point Mr Cheeky joined in and danced and wiggled his little bottom.